About this collection

Mary A. Ainsworth, an Oberlin College alumna of 1889, first traveled to Japan in 1905. Over the next 25 years, she steadily acquired a collection of Japanese prints and books of impressive breadth and depth. Ainsworth bequeathed her collection to Oberlin College in 1950. The Oberlin College Library's portion of the Ainsworth Collection consists of 114 lots amounting to over three hundred volumes of Japanese Artist books. The works are mostly concentrated in the late Edo (1603-1867) and Meiji periods (1868-1912) with a few from the Taisho period (1912-1926). The collection also holds seven wood blocks for printing (two surfaced with etched metal plates). Further information is available on the Oberlin College Library Special Collections website.